Extract from "Our Life in two Continents" by Antonio José Cárdenas

Antonio José Cárdenas Nannetti wrote the following on his book titled: “Our Life in two Continents”

        “My mother’s untimely death occurred on July 31, 1915, just 13 years before penicillin was discovered. She died at 33 years of age, of pneumonia, which was then considered incurable. Armida Nannetti was the daughter of an Italian immigrant who married a local Popayán girl.  Giocondo Nannetti was born in Bagni di Lucca in Northern Italy. In his youth he had fought with Garibaldi in the unification of Italy.  Giocondo later emigrated from his native country to the New World. After having tried his luck in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, he went all around the Continent until he reached the peaceful city of Popayán in southern Colombia. There “Don Yucundo”, as he was called by the natives, soon became one of the city’s popular characters, and eventually, he set up a little store, among other things, he imported olives and olive oil from Italy, and eventually, being a hard worker, he amassed a small fortune and became a rich man by local standards.

      Father, who liked to play the piano, taught us a song in honor or Papa Yuco. It was the Garibaldi Anthem, which we sang in Italian. We loved to visit Papa Yuco in Bogotá, especially at lunchtime because he used to prepare special sangria for the boys: one finger red wine, the rest all water and sugar. The old man always felt more Italian than Colombian. He always mixed his Spanish with a few Italian words, and on Colombian national holidays he would always hang his Italian colors next to the Colombian flag.”